Dungeon Defenders studio lets go 20% of its staff

Dungeon Defenders studio Trendy Entertainment has laid off 20 percent of its employees in the development and marketing divisions, CEO Darrell Rodriguez told GI International on Wednesday. The company declined to state the number of employees let go.

"Currently, we are not profitable, but we have products in the pipeline to get us there," Rodriguez said. "We are in between launches, so our cash flow is a concern. We are taking the necessary steps to fix this to ensure Dungeon Defenders 2 gets out the door at the great quality people have come to expect. We're at a critical time where execution and performance is essential to our ongoing success."

Rodriguez said the company is working with an outplacement team "to make sure everyone is cared for." Rodriguez took over as CEO in April. Before that, he was president of LucasArts from 2008 to 2010, and then Chief Creative Officer of casino game creator International Game Technology.

Dungeon Defenders 2 is the tower-defense sequel to 2010's Dungeon Defenders, and it's due out in 2014. Trendy is also working on a cross-platform toolkit called Playverse, which Rodriguez called "the future of the company."